List of British colours lost in battle

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Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a list of

union flag and a regimental colour of the same colour as the regiment's facings. The colours were regarded as talismans of the regiment and it was considered a stain on the unit's honour if they were captured. To prevent this, the colours were protected in the field by a colour party of young officers and experienced sergeants, around which the regiment would rally. As the 19th century progressed, regiments found their colour parties became increasingly vulnerable and some chose not to carry them in the field. The loss of two colours at the 1879 Battle of Isandlwana led to parliamentary debates on whether they should still be carried in the field. Heavy casualties among the colour party of the 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot at the 1881 Battle of Laing's Nek
led to a ban on them being carried in battle and since 1882 none have been taken on active service.

Background

9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot
with regimental colour, attended by a colour sergeant armed with a spontoon, 1813

The colours, flags, of a British Army infantry regiment serve to identify the unit and mark a rallying point for its troops. They were particularly important in early warfare when smoke on the battlefield could make it hard to discern friend from foe. The colours developed into important talismans for the regiments, representing its traditions and honour; to capture an enemy colour was considered a great achievement while allowing one's own colours to be captured, or "lost" to the enemy was considered a stain on the regiment's honour.

21st (Royal North British Fusilier) Regiment of Foot lost 3 officers and 17 sergeants.[6]

Colours were first regulated by order of

consecrated by an Anglican priest, and by 1825 it became the norm that colours would be consecrated when being formally presented to the regiment, though there were exceptions.[9]

Preventing capture

An 1879 depiction of Lieutenants Melville and Coghill dying to save the queen's colour of the 1st battalion, 24th Regiment at the Battle of Isandlwana

Regiments usually took great care to avoid their colours from falling into the hands of the enemy. During the

71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot (MacLeod's Highlanders) left them at their depot in Britain during the Peninsular War but could not find them upon their return; a light infantry regiment lost one colour in the post during the 19th century.[14]

The colours of units fighting in open order as light infantry were particularly vulnerable to attack and, as early as 1808, many such units did not carry their colours in the field.

James Abercrombie during the 1758 Ticonderoga campaign.[15] By the 1860s many infantry regiments posted on active service chose to leave their colours safely behind at their depots.[16]

A colour of the 58th during their attack at Laing's Nek

After the loss of the colours of the

Garnet Wolseley remarked that after this engagement any colonel that ordered the colours to be carried into action should be tried for the murders of the men lost carrying them.[11] The action led to the Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers issuing instructions on 29 July that colours were no longer to be taken into the field.[17] This was reinforced by a 2 March 1882 order from the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, the Duke of Cambridge, that regiments posted on active service leave their colours behind.[16] The colours of the 58th at Laing's Nek became the last to be carried into battle and those of the 1st battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment the last to be taken on active service when they were at Alexandria in 1882.[17]

Units without colours

Only the flags of British infantry regiments are known as colours, the flags of British cavalry regiments are called standards; these were not consecrated, and do not seem to have attracted the same level of veneration as their infantry counterparts.[18] From the early 19th century it became increasingly rare for cavalry standards to be taken into battle; very few were carried during the Peninsular War, for example. The light dragoons (a class of light cavalry that also included hussars and lancers) ceased to carry any standards after 1834, as by this time they fought most often as skirmishers in open order and hence would not be able to protect their standard.[19]

Infantry regiments lost their colours when designated as rifle units, which were intended to fight in skirmish order; this includes the 95th (Rifle) Regiment of Foot, the 60th (Royal American) Regiment of Foot and their modern-day successor The Rifles.[20] The Marines (from 1802 the Royal Marines), were organised into companies with only their administrative divisions receiving colours, which were not carried in the field.[21] The Royal Artillery did not carry colours, with their guns being considered the equivalent.[22]

List

This is a list of colours lost on the battlefield, or surrendered immediately afterwards, by infantry regiments of the British army since the 1747 reforms. Colours temporarily lost and recovered in the course of the battle are not listed. The list does not include units of the East India Company armies (and later the British Indian Army), colonial troops or militia.

Image Date Unit Colour Battle War Captured by Notes Ref
14 August 1756
50th Regiment of Foot (American Provincials)
 King's colour and regimental colour Battle of Fort Oswego Seven Years' War France These two units were ranked as regular regiments of foot but consisted of raw recruits from the colonies. They were disbanded shortly after the surrender at Fort Oswego. Two of these colours were recovered by British forces during the September 1760
capture of Montreal
. 		[23]
51st Regiment of Foot (Cape Breton Regiment)
 King's colour and regimental colour [23]
15 October 1760 Unknown regiment Unknown colour Battle of Kloster Kampen Seven Years' War France [24]
20 October 1775
7th Regiment of Foot (Royal Fusiliers)
 Regimental colour Surrender of
Fort Chamblé
American War of Independence
 Thirteen Colonies Only one company of the regiment was present at this action [25][26][23]
Surrender of colours at Saratoga 17 October 1777
37th Regiment of Foot
 King's colour and regimental colour Surrender at Saratoga American War of Independence United States of America Other regiments, including the
9th and 62nd Regiments of Foot, successfully concealed their colours and returned them to Britain. Other colours were sent in the personal baggage of General John Burgoyne
. 		[27][28][29][30]
1777-8 81st Regiment of Foot (Aberdeenshire Highland Regiment) King's colour and regimental colour At sea between Britain and Ireland American War of Independence United States of America Captured by a privateer, possibly John Paul Jones [27]
16 July 1779 17th Regiment of Foot King's colour and regimental colour Battle of Stony Point American War of Independence United States of America [31]
21 September 1779 16th Regiment of Foot King's colour and regimental colour Battle of Baton Rouge American War of Independence Spain [27]

The King's colour of the 7th Regiment is now exhibited at the

West Point Museum

 17 January 1781 7th Regiment of Foot King's colour Battle of Cowpens American War of Independence United States of America [25]
8 September 1781 64th Regiment of Foot King's colour (possible) Battle of Eutaw Springs American War of Independence United States of America The 64th Regiment returned from America without its King's colour, it was possibly lost when it was driven back at the Battle of Eutaw Springs [32]

A depiction of British colours (left) during the surrender at Yorktown

19 October 1781 43rd Regiment of Foot King's colour and regimental colour (possible)
Surrender at Yorktown
 American War of Independence United States of America,
France 		The 43rd Regiment later claimed its colours weren't lost and had been left at the depot in New York. The
33rd Regiment of Foot also surrendered at Yorktown but are believed to have hidden their colours beforehand. In addition to the British regiments 18 colours were captured from Hessian, Ansbach and Bayreuth
units. 		[25][33]
19 October 1781 76th Regiment of Foot (MacDonald's Highlanders) King's colour and regimental colour
19 October 1781 80th Regiment of Foot (Royal Edinburgh Volunteers) King's colour and regimental colour
26/27 November 1781
15th Regiment of Foot
 King's colour and regimental colour French capture of Sint Eustatius Anglo-French War (1778–1783) France [34]
13th Regiment of Foot King's colour and regimental colour [34]
3 May 1783 98th Regiment of Foot King's colour and regimental colour Siege of Bednore Second Anglo-Mysore War Mysore [34]
100th Regiment of Foot (Loyal Lincolnshire Regiment) King's colour and regimental colour [34]
102nd Regiment of Foot King's colour and regimental colour [34]
1794 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot King's colour and regimental colour Invasion of Guadeloupe War of the First Coalition France [35]
65th (2nd Yorkshire, North Riding) Regiment of Foot King's colour and regimental colour [35]

King's colour (left) and regimental colour (right)

11 August 1806 2nd battalion, 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot (MacLeod's Highlanders) King's colour and regimental colour First British occupation of Buenos Aires Anglo-Spanish War (1796–1808) Spain [36][35]

The Buffs defend their colours at Albuera

16 May 1811 1st battalion, 3rd Regiment of Foot, "The Buffs" Part of the regimental colour (staff, cords and part of flag lost, later recovered in counterattack) Battle of Albuera Peninsular War France The regimental colour was lost to a French attack but most of the flag was recovered in a counterattack by the
7th Regiment of Foot
 [36][37]
2nd battalion, 48th (Northamptonshire) Regiment of Foot King's colour and regimental colour [36]
2nd battalion, 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot King's colour [36]
22 July 1812 2nd battalion, 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot Part of the King's colour (staff and some of the flag lost) Battle of Salamanca Peninsular War France [36]

Two of the colours during the Siege of Bergen op Zoom

8 March 1814 2nd battalion,
1st Regiment of Foot Guards
 Unknown Siege of Bergen op Zoom War of the Sixth Coalition France Source just states "colours" lost. The Foot Guards of this period carried three king's colours: the colonel's, lieutenant-colonel's and major's colours. Unlike the king's colours of line regiments these had plain crimson fields. Each company also had a colour which was the union flag defaced with a badge, the 1st Foot Guards had 24 of these, one of which was carried in rotation as the regimental colour. [36][38]
4th battalion,
1st (Royal) Regiment of Foot
 King's colour and regimental colour The colours were weighted and thrown into the River Zoom by the regiment's adjutant in an attempt to save them from capture but were afterwards recovered by the French. [36][39]
2nd battalion, 69th (South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot Regimental colour [36]
16 June 1815 2nd battalion, 69th (South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot King's colour Battle of Quatre Bras Hundred Days France The colour came into the possession of General François-Xavier Donzelot who commanded the 2nd Infantry Division during the battle. It was inherited by his grandson who gave them away in payment for a debt. In 1909 the colour was sold to a British captain on holiday and returned to the regimental museum. The colour is now in the collection of the Regimental Museum of The Royal Welsh. [36][40]

King's colour carried by battalions of the King's German Legion

18 June 1815 5th
Kings German Legion
Line Battalion 		King's colour Battle of Waterloo War of the Sixth Coalition France [36]
8th
Kings German Legion
Line Battalion 		King's colour [36]

The last stand of the 44th, the regimental colour is shown wrapped around Souter's waist

13 January 1842 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot Queen's colour and regimental colour Last stand at Jugdulluk First Anglo-Afghan War Afghanistan Knowing they would be overrun by the Afghan forces Captain Souter and Lieutenant Cumberland took the colours from their staffs and tried to wrap them around their bodies. Cumberland was unable to button his coat over the queen's colour and handed it to Colour-Sergeant Carey who hid it under his sheepskin coat. Carey was killed and the colour lost, but Souter was captured by the Afghans who thought him worthy of ransom after mistaking the bright yellow colour for expensive clothing. Souter brought the regimental colour back with him when he was released some months later. [41][42][43]

The 24th advance at Chillianwala

13 January 1849
24th (The 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot
 Queen's colour Battle of Chillianwala
Second Anglo-Sikh War
 Sikh Empire The colour was separated from its staff and carried by the wounded Private Battlestone during the retreat. Having refused to give up the colours to his comrades Battlestone fell dead, unnoticed. The colour was not found by the British the following morning; as it was not paraded by the Sikhs as a trophy it was perhaps taken by local villagers or camp followers. The battle was among the worst on record for losses of British colours, with nine from the British Indian units also lost. [44][45][46]

A depiction of a last stand around the regimental colour of the 2nd battalion, though there is no evidence that the colours were unfurled during the battle.

22 January 1879
24th (The 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot
 Queen's colour and regimental colour Battle of Isandlwana Anglo-Zulu War Zulu Kingdom Both colours of the 2nd battalion were lost on the battlefield, though part of one pole and a crown finial were recovered separately later.The queen's colour of the 1st battalion was also present at the battle; it was brought away by Lieutenants Melville and Coghill who were killed in their attempted flight. The colour was found in the Buffalo River by British forces on 4 February, near to where they died. [47]
27 July 1880 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot Queen's colour and regimental colour Battle of Maiwand Second Anglo-Afghan War Afghanistan This was the last loss of British colours. [48]

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